The film is based on C.J. Dennis' 1915 Australian poem The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke. The film was produce by a South Australian company, The Southern Cross Feature film Co, and shot in New South Wales. Most of the exteriors were filmed in the Sydney suburb Woolloomooloo, Manley Beach, Bondi and The Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney. Interiors were shot at Wonderland City in Bondi. The text on the inter-titles (designed by Lyell) was taken directly from Dennis' poem.

Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, the writers/directors/stars were the most successful film partnership in Australia at the time. This film broke all existing box office records after debuting on October 4 1919 at Melbourne Town Hall in Victoria.

This version comes from a second generation VHS copy from a U-Matic video tape distributed by the New South Wales Department of Education in the early 1980s. This is an incomplete version of the film which is Public Domain as all motion picture and literary copyrights in this version have expired under Australian Law.

The negative of this film was recently discovered in the archives of George Eastman House (mislabled "The Sentimental Blonde"). The copyright restored edition premiered in 2004.

There is no musical accompaniment on this video. It is completely silent. The video quality is not great. I have uploaded the film due to a number of requests and because there is not enough PD Australian cinema freely available.

Cast:

Arthur Tauchert ...The Bloke
Lottie Lyell...Doreen
Gilbert Emery...Ginger Mick
Stanley Robinson...The Bloke's Friend
Harry Young...The Stror 'at Coot
Margaret Reid..Mother
Charles Keegan...Parson
William Coulter...Uncle Jim
Helen Fergus...Nurse
C.J. Dennis...Himself

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